


A Better Horizon

by KeriArentikai



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Canon, M/M, gay patrick, pansexual david, patrick's thoughts, realizing he's gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 12:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14237322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeriArentikai/pseuds/KeriArentikai
Summary: For Patrick, it was love at first sight.Okay, no, it wasn't love at first sight. Patrick doesn't evenbelievein love at first sight. And could it really count as love at first sight if he didn't realize it at the time? He didn't figure it out until much later. So no, it didn't count.(It was love at first sight.)___Patrick's thoughts through the end of the third season, spoilers through 4x07





	A Better Horizon

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks. I haven't written anything in a million years but this show stole my soul this week and here we are. Hello new fandom!
> 
> What follows is sort of self-indulgent, but found myself wanting to spend more time with these characters and since there are so few fics, this happened.

For Patrick, it was love at first sight.

Okay, no, it wasn't love at first sight. Patrick doesn't even believe in love at first sight. And could it really count as love at first sight if he didn't realize it at the time? He didn't figure it out until much later. So no, it didn't count.

(It was love at first sight.)

___

He knew things about David Rose, of course. He hadn't gotten two hours into his time in Schitt's Creek before he'd been informed all about the Roses (as well as everyone else – Ray really liked to talk). But the Roses were a constant topic of conversation, between Alexis' relationships and Johnny's plans and Moira's... everything. He'd heard that David dressed strangely. He'd heard that he was just as spoiled and haughty as the rest of his family. He'd heard rumours about him and a girl who worked at the motel. He'd heard that he was gay. He'd heard he was taking over the general store.

He could confirm the last one, at least, when David came into Ray's house to file for his business license. He learned a few things about David for himself: he was hilarious. He was clearly apprehensive about his new project. He was dressed as strangely as everyone had said. 

Patrick felt an odd warmth in his chest - half unfamiliar, half barely remembered - as David struggled to describe his store. David didn't seem to appreciate his jokes, didn't seem to even really be seeing him as a person outside of his function as paperwork-filer, but Patrick smiled and gave him his card anyway. He needed to make new friends.

Starting over in a new town was hard, but he knew moving had been the right choice. It had been a month since he'd left his town, his family, his kind-of-boring job, Rachel. There had been nothing wrong there, nothing he could point to that needed fixing. He was... fine. But as Rachel started trying to get him to agree to a date so she could start looking at venues for their wedding, he realized that fine, when stretched out to the horizon and with no prospects for anything else, sucked.

So this was all new. This was his chance to find out if there was something better out there than fine. A part of him thought he'd live here for a year, see that living in all towns was essentially the same, and go back to Rachel and his family and everything else. He tried not to reflect on how suffocated that made him feel.

He decided he was going to befriend David. He'd already decided that before David called him again and again and left messages that made it abundantly clear that he was high. He was high and still hilarious and kind of brilliant, too. Patrick couldn't wait to make fun of him.

___

The business license came in about a month later. Patrick couldn't quite wait that long before going over to the store, though – he started passing by when he was in the area, looking in when David wasn't there, coming in to say hi (sometimes, maybe once or twice) when David was there. David didn't exactly seem to be warming up to him, but he also didn't seem to mind the company. Talking to him was always fun and funny, but never really broke through to sincerity. But sometimes it was as if David forgot to be aloof and let a smile slip out.

It's hard to make new friends as an adult. Patrick knew this. He was willing to put in the work. He wasn't 100% certain why he was directing all of his energy at befriending David, but he was sure it was the right choice.

The night after he dropped off the license, he was lying in bed, thinking over his day, thinking over his interactions with David (as he often – sometimes – did). He sat bolt upright in bed as it occurred to him that Alexis had actually been flirting with him. He had noticed, of course, that she was flirting, but it hadn't even crossed his mind at the time that it meant anything. Shouldn't he have been into it? Shouldn't he, right now, be thinking about exactly how Alexis had touched him, had leaned into him, had put that scarf around his neck? Shouldn't he be hoping to hook up with her? He wasn't. He was thinking about David hiding a smile when they exchanged a look, about how he had – sort of, briefly, only in brushing by – touched David's back on one of his trips in and out of the back room.

Huh.

___

David said yes to his proposal. His business proposal, that is. He looked flustered and pleased and it was kind of great. 

Patrick told David he was going to get the grant money with unshakable confidence – promised him, really, with maybe more intimacy in his voice than he intended. He just knew this was going to work. 

___

Patrick was going by the store pretty much every day now – helping to unpack new products, listening to David's external internal monologue on branding and label design and aesthetic. Things were going great. The business was going to work and they were friends.

At least, he thought so. It wasn't quite like any friendship he'd had before. They flirted a lot. Which wasn't that weird, he'd flirted with female friends before, and David was obviously... well, something. Not straight, at least. It's not like Patrick was homophobic – he'd always believed in gay rights and marriage equality. So it made sense that they flirted. Probably. 

What was weirder was how aware of David he was. He kept track of where he was in the room without meaning to. He noticed when David let his stubble grow a little longer than usual. He sometimes found himself staring at David's arms when his sleeves were rolled up, how the muscles moved when he lifted a box. 

He realized it had been days – literally days – since Rachel had even crossed his mind.

___

Patrick wasn't stupid. He was a lot of things, including maybe a little oblivious when it was convenient, but not stupid. After a few weeks it was obvious he had a... thing for David. No one takes their life in their hands and wires a light fixture just so they can see relief and gratitude and joy on the face a random person they don't care about. People don't find reasons to say a platonic friend's name whenever they can. Guys don't hug their queer male business partners for upwards of five seconds – just hanging on, feeling their bodies press together – without there being something happening.

So there was something happening, but it wasn't – couldn't be – real. He wasn't gay. Not that there was anything wrong with that! But... he would have noticed by now, wouldn't he? He couldn't have possibly gone through 27 years of his life without having figured that out. Sure, if he looked back on it, he may have had some thoughts about guys before, but didn't everyone? It hadn't meant he wanted to date guys. He'd wanted to be with Rachel. Sort of.

He didn't want to be with Rachel any more. He wanted to be with David.

He wanted to be with him in a way that felt entirely different from his high-school crush on Rachel, on other girls before her or during their frequent breakups. Then it had been what was expected. He liked doing what he was supposed to do, fulfilling other people's hopes and standards. Patrick was a safe bet. 

But nothing about how he felt about David was safe. It was terrifying and wonderful and so huge there was just no way he could wrap his mind around it. 

And David was funny, and really sweet when he forgot to be on his guard. He was confident and sensitive and he made Patrick feel like the best version of himself. 

He told himself there was no rush. It wasn't now or never. He could just enjoy getting to know David more, working with him, seeing him every day. Seeing him smile. Maybe hugging him every now and then.

Patrick could imagine kissing him. Patrick _did_ imagine kissing him. Would it gross him out to imagine more? To imagine David's hands sliding up his naked sides, pulling them together? The way it might feel to have David's thigh pressed between his, rocking them together, feeling David's body respond... 

Huh. Nope, not gross. Okay then.

His hand and thoughts of David kept him occupied that night.

___

Holy shit, he did it. He actually did it. Patrick asked David out on a date, and David said yes. He was meeting him at 8.

Patrick looked nervously into the mirror. He'd changed his shirt from a dark blue to a light blue – not that it made a difference. If David did like him, it certainly wasn't for his fashion sense. But it just seemed right to change and put on a jacket for this date – this date that meant so much to him. He felt like a teenager again.

Holy shit, they were going on a date.

___

Fuck, it wasn't a date. 

Patrick leaned against the bathroom sink and took some deep breaths. It wasn't the best idea; Cafe Tropical didn't have the greatest-smelling bathrooms. 

He needed to get ahold of himself. He thought he'd done a pretty good job of masking his reaction to Stevie showing up – other than running away, that is – and he needed to keep that up. He told himself it didn't mean that David wasn't interested. Just that maybe he'd misunderstood, or they weren't there yet, or...

Everything was fine. Yes, he'd gotten himself all anxious and worked up over a date that never was, but that wasn't the end of the world. The butterflies in his stomach had been replaced by a knot in his chest, but it was fine.

The next time he asked David out, he decided, he was going to make sure David knew that's what he was doing.

___

Stevie left and didn't even pretend she was making a good excuse. That meant a) it was a date again, b) David now for sure knew it was a date and c) Stevie approved.

The butterflies were back and they'd brought friends. 

___

They were sitting in the car, and Patrick was trying to tell David how glad he was that he was in his life now. He told him, or at least a version of that, and David was smiling at him and talking in a softer-than-usual way and he knew, he knew this was the moment. And then he froze. He couldn't do it. What if... what if he'd been wrong, what if he wasn't really into guys, what if he was ruining everything that they had together? 

Then David leaned in and Patrick moved forward to meet him and all of his doubts were swept away. Up to now all of this had been in his head – he hadn't talked to anyone about it – and it never felt solid, never felt like something that could exist in external reality. But it was really happening, he was really kissing a guy. Kissing David. It was happening and David smelled nice and only a tiny bit like mozzarella sticks, and his large hand felt good on his neck and the stubble didn't feel rough like he'd worried it might. He felt like all of himself came alive. He felt joy.

He felt that warmth in his chest, the one he'd associated with David ever since meeting him over the business license papers. He had a pretty good idea now of what that was.


End file.
